SMALL HOLDINGS ACT 71 



and that the subsequent falls are due to 

 failure of the experiment in a considerable 

 number of cases. 



Small Holdings Acts. 



Apart from allotments, for which legisla- 

 tion was passed in 1887, the first Act for 

 stimulating the growth of small holdings was 

 passed in 1892, after an inquiry and report by 

 a Select Committee in 1890. The table given 

 above shows an appreciable increase in the 

 number of 5-50 acre holdings in 1895 over 

 1885. But by 1905 the number had dropped 

 back almost precisely to the 1885 level. The 

 Act was pronounced a failure. In 1905 

 another inquiry was held by a Departmental 

 Committee, and this was followed by another 

 Act in 1907, to be superseded by an amending 

 and consolidating Act in 1908, to which an 

 addition was made in 1910 relating to com- 

 pensation for compulsory purchase. It is 

 since this legislation that the 1-5 acre and 

 5-50 acre holdings have exhibited an upward 

 tendency. The year 1908 was the low-water 

 mark, after which a gradual rise set in, though 

 the smaller class fell back again in 1912. It is 

 evident that these classes, which comprise 

 the official small holdings, can be increased, 

 under an artificial stimulus, but they require 

 special conditions for success. The 5-50 class 

 is the more successful of the two ; it comes 



